Sometimes a serpent really is a serpent. In the case of Moses' Bronze Serpent, it's actually the grace of God at work.
Recently, I came across a video of Jordan Peterson and a round-table of deep-thinkers, widely ranging in philosophies, discussing the Biblical account of Moses' Bronze Serpent. (I'm a fan of Peterson and even some of the gentlemen on the round-table, so this post is not a "knock" on them.) However, this video (link, must have a Daily Wire subscription and start it at the 1 hour and 26 minute mark) drove me nuts because they were so deeply involved in seeing beyond the story to what they thought it meant that they never actually saw the story for what it is!
I suppose all of us searchers are guilty of this, so I won't hold it against them. It was C. S. Lewis who said "It is no use trying to see through first principles" and the Bronze Serpent provides a "first principle." The story of the Bronze Serpent is extremely important because of the clear and undeniable connection it provides to Jesus Christ and the finished work of the cross.
Most of those around the roundtable felt the story of the Bronze Serpent was real (that's a credit to them) but they seemed to all feel that the Bronze Serpent represented facing our fears, particularly the fear of dying or even dying a gruesome death. Much was discussed about the psychological concept of desensitizing people from their fears by exposing them to their fears.
Most of them understood the connection between the Bronze Serpent and Jesus Christ's crucifixion (another credit to them), but still seemed to go along with the notion that Christ's death was related to our fear of dying. Granted, it was an incredibly gruesome death of someone who was not only innocent but those who crucified him knew his innocence. But the connection between the two events have little to do with fear and everything to do with what we're dying from: sin.
In John 3, Jesus makes the clear connection between himself and the Bronze Serpent. He explains to Nicodemus that he is not coming into the world to condemn us for the sin, but that we stand condemned already. When Adam and Eve seized control on their own terms, they willingly severed their connection to the life of God that sustains all things and began to die, just as God promised in Genesis 2:16-17. We have this same sinful nature (and would do the same, given half a chance and anyone honest with themselves knows this) and the same disconnect. Not long after the miracle of being born, we begin to die.
When we examine the story of the Bronze Serpent lifted up, we have to first acknowledge that the people were already dying...they were just dying quicker from snake bites! They were dying from the consequences of both the original rebellion and the more recent rebellion recorded in Numbers. They weren't dying from fear. They were dying from sin and the curse that came with it.
Christ crucified does not represent our fear of dying. He represents, in the most clearly intercessory act in the history of the world, the very thing that is killing us. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Christ became sin, bearing our sins in his body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). Paul says in Galatians 3:13 that Christ became the curse of death—willingly laying down his life to make a way for us to reconnect with the life God provides.
He became our curse and became our sin—he became the very things that were killing us! Just like the Bronze Serpent put on the pole, so Christ was nailed to the cross.
It's not about fear—fear wasn't killing us. Christ came that we might exchange death for life—eternal, abundant, never-ending life because he is the source and sustainer of all life. We're talking about salvation. We're talking about full and complete deliverance. It's not our fear of dying that is crucified to the cross. What is killing us is crucified to the cross—our very sins including the original sin that began the separation from the source of our life, all of which is nailed to the cross.
It's not that fear of dying isn't a legitimate fear—it most certainly is! It's perhaps the most legitimate fear in the sense that everyone is going to die someday, but it is an answerable fear. The fear of dying is answerable in the person of Jesus Christ who offers us eternal life.
This eternal life doesn't begin when we die, but—like the Hebrews who were healed immediately—it begins the moment we look up in an act of faith and obedience to see our sins nailed to the cross. It continues eternally, unbroken even by death.
There is another shadowing of Christ in the Old Testament worth mentioning here because of its connection, though it is less known. (I was unaware of it's full significance until just recently.) In Deuteronomy, Moses gives Israel God's instruction on how to live in the new land. He establishes borders of the Promised Land, borders of the individual tribe's inheritances, and how many cities should be given from each tribe to the tribe of Levites. Some of those cities are designated as Refuge Cities to which a murderer could flee and safely await a trial.
The assembly in the city (probably Levites) would judge the murderer based upon their emotional state (it uses the words "with malice") and the weapons used. If you were judged guilty, you were killed immediately because murder defiles the land and God cannot dwell in a defiled land. If the murderer was judged to have killed accidentally, then the murderer would stay in that city, safe from the avenger who demanded "a life for a life." If they left the city, the avenger had every right under the law to kill the murderer.
That is, until the anointed High Priest died. Why? Because the anointed High Priest's death atoned for that murderer's life.
Christ is not only the city of refuge to which we run, he is also the only righteous judge who is without sin. He is also the Avenger—the goel or Kinsman-Redeemer—the closest of kin who demands justice. (For instance, God told Cain that his brother's blood cried out to him.) The avenger has every right to take that person's life if they leave the city, until the death of the High Priest who dies in our place. Finally, Christ is also the anointed High Priest whose death atones for our sin and releases us in freedom (Hebrews 4:14-16).
His death atoned for all sin, once and for all, so that we can have eternal, abundant life. When we look at Christ lifted up on the cross, we do not do so to face our fears but rather, to see our sin on the cross. We also see the person who makes atonement for our sin, so those who look up are offered immediate eternal life and freedom.
There is great wisdom in facing our fears but only Perfect Love himself casts out fear...because fear is rooted in punishment (1 John 4:18). In that sense, we do face our fear of punishment and exchange it for perfect love on the cross. And we can battle—and win—against fears because we no longer fear punishment. Strategies and tactics to face fears are wise and plentiful...but like the people of Israel, you will live if you act in obedience and faith, and look up. All acts of obedience are acts of faith.
Look up and live.
"...and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:12-14
Grace made atonement once, for all.
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